MASSIVE # of Charge Port Door Actuators Fail

[Ritzvian]

I got my 2025 Rivian R1S TRI at the end of August and just had my charge port door stop working.

When I originally tried to schedule this for service through the app, they booked me for an appointment in February. Knowing that my battery wouldn’t last that long and being unable to open the charge port, I called to ask them to prioritize this for an earlier appointment. The service tech I spoke with seem surprised that it wasn’t escalated already and got me an appt in a few days. After dropping it off at the location in Seattle, I was told they’d get back to me by the end of the day with an update. Since I didn’t hear from them at the end of the day, I reached out to find that they identified the charge port door actuator as being broken and needing replacement, but they weren’t able to give me an estimated time of delivery for the part yet.
The next day I got the same radio silence, followed up and then got the same no ETA. The next day the same thing so I asked for a manager. Deja, the manager provided a lot of additional details on the issue, making it seem as though this was a very large product failure across the company, and the only place they could potentially source actuators that were not faulty, was at the Normal, Illinois factory.

I asked why this information wasn’t made available to the people on her team so they could set up expectations correctly, and she said it wasn’t the kind of thing they needed to know at their level. She also said it is industry standard to have EV’s be scheduled for an appt just to get risky vehicles off the road even if they knew they didn’t have the staff to work on them that day.
I told her I wanted to pick up my car and just drive it without the charge port door and she said I could do that but it would violate any warrant claims tied to anything connected to the charge me harness and wiring so pretty much everything electrical.

Not knowing how long it would take to get the part, I opted for the warranty risk and bought a dust cover to keep things out of the charger. https://a.co/d/fTNHnc3

With how widespread she made this sound I’m surprised I don’t hear more about it in this forum. Is anyone else impacted?

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[Hereforthesnacks]

There is no way I would take that warranty risk.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

This title sounds like definitive information, but upon reading the post, all I have is hearsay and conjecture. Do better OP.

 

[M3_R2]

He's not a reporter doing investigative journalism. I don't know what more you could ask for.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

He's not a reporter doing investigative journalism. I don't know what more you could ask for.

How about not making a declarative statement without any evidence?

 

[cohall]

I don’t buy it. Any time there’s a widespread or “MASSIVE” issue with Rivians, you see plenty of posts here or on facebook discussing the issue. A good example is the 12v battery issue, or half shaft clunks. I’ve seen almost zero posts about charging port failures. I’m sure it happens, but highly doubt it’s as broad an issue as you are asserting.

If there was a massive number of failures preventing the ability to charge or drive our Rivians, we would have definitely heard about it.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

It happened to you so it has to be an epidemic and of the utmost importance? What is OP’s age? Rhetorical. Edit your title if you want to be taken seriously.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

I got my 2025 Rivian R1S TRI at the end of August and just had my charge port door stop working.

When I originally tried to schedule this for service through the app, they booked me for an appointment in February. Knowing that my battery wouldn’t last that long and being unable to open the charge port, I called to ask them to prioritize this for an earlier appointment. The service tech I spoke with seem surprised that it wasn’t escalated already and got me an appt in a few days. After dropping it off at the location in Seattle, I was told they’d get back to me by the end of the day with an update. Since I didn’t hear from them at the end of the day, I reached out to find that they identified the charge port door actuator as being broken and needing replacement, but they weren’t able to give me an estimated time of delivery for the part yet.
The next day I got the same radio silence, followed up and then got the same no ETA. The next day the same thing so I asked for a manager. Deja, the manager provided a lot of additional details on the issue, making it seem as though this was a very large product failure across the company, and the only place they could potentially source actuators that were not faulty, was at the Normal, Illinois factory.

I asked why this information wasn’t made available to the people on her team so they could set up expectations correctly, and she said it wasn’t the kind of thing they needed to know at their level. She also said it is industry standard to have EV’s be scheduled for an appt just to get risky vehicles off the road even if they knew they didn’t have the staff to work on them that day.
I told her I wanted to pick up my car and just drive it without the charge port door and she said I could do that but it would violate any warrant claims tied to anything connected to the charge me harness and wiring so pretty much everything electrical.

Not knowing how long it would take to get the part, I opted for the warranty risk and bought a dust cover to keep things out of the charger. https://a.co/d/fTNHnc3

With how widespread she made this sound I’m surprised I don’t hear more about it in this forum. Is anyone else impacted?

Um…ask for a loaner?

If they say no, ask them about lemon laws as your vehicle is not operable according to the manufacturer with no estimate of repairability.

Idk why you would take the warranty risk over those two options.

 

[dradam]

How did you get the charge port open if it wasn’t working?

 

[Dark-Fx]

With how widespread she made this sound I’m surprised I don’t hear more about it in this forum. Is anyone else impacted?

That's crazy. I have three Rivians and none of them have had actuator failures.

Perhaps the sky is falling precisely where you are.

When I originally tried to schedule this for service through the app, they booked me for an appointment in February.

Yep, definitely only exactly where you are in line. The app doesn't triage the consequence of your issues at all. If your issue will prevent you from using your vehicle, you really need to talk to a person.

Welcome to the forum?

 

[CANCERDOC]

I am not sure if the title of the thread is accurate. While a charge port door issue isn’t impossible, it doesn’t seem common either. Did they set you up with a loaner or rental? If so, all you can do is wait for the repair. There’s no way they are slowing things down on purpose since it costs them money to have your vehicle sitting in the shop. I felt that they did get you an urgent appt but it’s not the repair centers fault that the part is not available.

 

[Rivdog]

I always have doubts when this is OP’s first post ever. Seen that situation a few times before…

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

I always have doubts when this is OP’s first post ever. Seen that situation a few times before…

Nothing in this post really makes sense lol

 

[ndmiller]

Sample size of one, your actuator failed. Beyond that, I've never heard of this issue and trusting a Rivian service advisor to provide global data on Rivian in general isn't reality.

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